I was wondering that myself.
I had the wrenches ready for me to let a little air leak out, but after a few seconds it started to read 80 PSI and the needle was not bouncing so I believe no air is in the line. After dinner I went out to the shop and did some more work. I looked for leaks [fuel, oil, anti freeze, ATF] and found none.

 

Drove it for the first time ever myself today. Judging from the last inspection sticker in the window from 2002 in Texas - maybe the first time it has moved under its own power in 22 years. There was no motor under the hood when I bought it about a decade ago.
It did okay, the steering needs an alignment, but it was decent. It shifted into and out of 2nd going down my driveway. I did not get it going fast enough for 3rd.
The power steering system acts like it has an air bubble in it. I will jack it up and crank the steering wheel left and right a bit and see if I can get it to take some more fluid.

I also got it hosed off and cleaned up a bit. Then took a few pictures and sent them down to my friend NJTman, with a bit of luck he will load them for you guys to check out.

 

Congrats!

 

Awesome!, Thats a big milestone buddy, well done

 

Good deal! That's a major achievement to have it run & drive after that long. Makes for a good feeling of accomplishment.

 

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Thanks boys for the kind words.
It was a great moment to finally drive it rather than push it around. Helps make me want to throw some more time at it.
It also cleaned up pretty nicely once I removed the major dust off it.

Last night after dinner, I checked the power steering and it was low on fluid. I jacked it up, filled it up and started cranking the wheel left and right slowly. It burped out a bunch of air bubbles and took more fluid a few times.
Looks like I neglected to properly bleed the system when I plumbed the lines up to the steering gear last winter.

 

I lost internet service for the past 2+ weeks. so there has been no posting. I got the 4 inch exhaust run over the axle and around the fuel tank. I made a few large dents in the tubing with a ball peen hammer to help with contact on the frame.

Painted the rear bumper after smoothing it out and hitting it with some primer. I am planning on installing it once it drys. I have to do a little wiring to get the 2nd gen style plate light to work - mostly adding a ground wire for the 2 wire plug.
I painted the center console with some fresh red paint as it was pretty rough looking. I also thought it would cover up some of my epoxy work I did to patch the cracks in the fiberglass. It now fits around the B+M shifter pedestal mount cleanly.

Drove it the other day for a couple miles. Seems to be pretty decent running. It had a lot of lag on the throttle but when it hit I saw 30 PSI quickly. Looks like I need to add some more 0 boost fuel too the mix to help it on the low end. Plenty of oil PSI [80] and I noted no leaks from the engine bay when it was back in the shop.
Now to dig up some front tires for it that are not dry cracked and ancient.

 

Can't wait to see it pull up to my house in VT.

 

Got some newer rubbers mounted and balanced on some OEM 1st gen steel rims for the front end.
I painted the front rims the same color as the body. Like the 70's muscle cars could be ordered with the poverty hub caps.

The rear bumper is finished, painted and mounted up. I like the way it looks.

I am currently working on getting the lock up and over drive functions to work using a couple of toggle switches.
the list of stuff that NEEDS to be done is getting short.

 

A local car show in Waterbury is next weekend.
Driving it down to the car show next weekend with my daughter is the new goal. It is about a 3 hour round trip.
they also do a 8 mile[?] antique rig parade around town on Saturday.

I will try to get in a few shakedown trips on it this week to test things out. I am assuming I will find a few items to dial in, as this was literally in 1000's of pieces for YEARS.

 

Put 30 miles on it today. It did great. I got Lock up to work. O/D did not but it might just be the janky used switch I used.
I re wired O/D when I got back to the shop. I will take it for another test ride tomorrow.

I also got the top pulled off it today, so I could remove the almost 50 year old carpeting and such out of the back of it. I then vacuumed it out. The metal under it all looked good when I got it all cleaned up. Should be a lot nicer now. I used my shop lift to help pluck the top off it, as those suckers are heavy!

 

Charlotte and I took the Rootbeer out to the taco truck yesterday to go on a short test and tune style ride. The night before I added a couple turns to the smoke screw. I also moved the AFC housing full forward as the pervious test drive showed me that I was low on fuel across the board, but REALLY bad at low to no boost.

Well that changed things a lot. It went from a laggy old ride to a tire spinner if you add throttle too quickly. I decided to throw on 2 cupped and strangely worn tires on the rear, that I can not really use for much else. At least they are not dry cracked and old. Now I will not have to think about wasting good tires if I am struggling for traction here and there during my test and tune rides.

Swapped out the janky used switch for the O/D for another one I had, which made O/D work. The RPM really drops when you have O/D. Lock up seems to get the power to the ground as well.

I did note that boost tops out at 25, so I adjusted the waste gate last night in a attempt to get it up closer to 35 PSI at WOT. When putting the pump together, I adjusted the AFC to not open fully till 35 PSI, so I think there is more WOT fuel and air to be had.
I will try and get out for a test and tune ride today as well.

 

Congrats Oliver on some successful joy rides! Probably feels real good after working and sitting on it so long to cruise it around. I was curious about the traction action with most the weight on the nose, sounds fun even with only 25 psi. Can't wait to get mine running!

 

It would be fun to go on some test runs with you Oliver!